The Best Days Of Our Lives
by Where-We-Are-Just-And-Loyal
Summary: He loves her, but she hates him, they just can't win. But maybe they can be friends. Join the Marauders on an adventure through their last year of school, befriending enemies, making new enemies, playing quidditch, and falling in love. **ON HIATUS** **DON'T KILL ME** **PLEASE**
1. Love Stinks

A/N: I changed the name because I thought this one up while using the bathroom and liked it better. Anyway, I won't change it anymore. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: JKR owns the characters etc. J. Geils band owns the song 'Love Stinks'.

* * *

'Bugger off, Potter'

or

'Love Stinks'

(No one's PoV)

"Hey Evans, what's up?" 16-year-old James Potter yelled across the crowded corridor. He'd been in love with Lily Evans for years. She hated him. As much as it hurt him when she turned him down, he persisted because he was James Potter and _everyone_ knew that James Potter _never_ gives up.

"Better before you spoke to me, Potter" Lily yelled back. Usually fierce and caring and responsible, Potter was such an arrogant git in her opinion, always asking her out and annoying her that he brought out only the fiery aspect of her personality. He was the unlucky target of many hexes and jinxes. He was the only Marauder that she had a real problem with; Sirius Black, Potter's second in command was a bit of a git, but he was funny and understanding. And they'd bonded over sibling problems; his younger brother was a git and her older sister was also, though not for entirely different reasons. She'd been friends with Remus Lupin since she was a second year, and Peter Pettigrew was as sweet as he was shy.

"Will you- "James began, but Lily cut him off. Why could the prick never get it through his arrogant head that she would never go out with him?

"No, I will not go out with you, so leave it, drop it, never speak to me again unless you can refrain from being an insufferable git and just shut up already!" Lily screeched, infuriated. The bloody git couldn't refrain from asking her out for just one minute! James looked crestfallen, and dropped his gaze, hurt in his eyes. Lily had already turned away, so she didn't notice the emotions in her nemesis's eyes.

"Tough luck, mate" Sirius chuckled from his side. James glared at his friend. Sirius noticed a hurt in his eyes that wasn't there before.

"You'll get over it eventually and ask her out again" Peter said wisely, with the air of someone who'd had similar experiences. Which he had. James smiled weakly.

"I love her" James contradicted. "Besides, I've tried. And failed. Many times. I can't get the bloody girl to go out with me."

"Calling her 'the bloody girl' probably doesn't help" Remus quipped.

"I'm serious!-"

"No, I'm- "

"Shut up!" Peter covered his ears.

"Don't you _dare_ make that pun" Remus shouted over them all.

"-Sirius!" Sirius grinned.

"- I'm determined to get over her!" James cried. His friends looked at him horrified.

"You can't just _give up_! You're James Bloody Potter! You never give up!" Sirius glared.

"Yes, I can!"

"Pads is right, you can't just give up!" Remus wheedled.

"We've listened to you whine- "Peter muttered.

"-And sob- "

"-And come up with bloody stupid ways to ask her out! "

"We've listened to you dream about kissing her- "added Sirius.

"-and decide what you're wedding, for eff's sake's will look like!" Remus complained.

"You are never giving up as long as we are your friends!" Peter said triumphantly. James scowled.

"Love stinks."

* * *

"Do you think I was too harsh?" Lily wondered looking worried. She and her friends were battling the crowds as they walked to the Great Hall for lunch (they'd just finished double Transfiguration and the whole school was stressing about the impending exams), but as much as Potter annoyed her, she still didn't want to hurt him.

"Maybe a little" Lily's best friend and roommate Marlene McKinnon allowed. Lily scowled, plopping down on the bench and dropping her bag. Mary MacDonald and Marlene sat down on either side of Lily and Mary began putting chicken and ham pie on her mate's plates.

"Thanks Mary" Marlene took a bite of her pie.

"If you feel that guilty, find the git and apologize, but honestly, he'll get over it, he always does" Mary said. Lily sighed.

"Black's coming over" Marlene mumbled, spraying crumbs across the table as the Marauders minus James took seats across from the girls.

"Where's Potter?" Lily inquired, surprised. Usually Potter was everywhere Sirius was.

"Library" Remus answered, picking up the spoon and serving himself.

"I'm surprised he even set foot into such a place" Sirius said. We made a pact that if we had to go to the library, we'd inform the other so that they could come along and keep us from studying too much." Lily raised her eyebrow.

"What if you need a book?"

"Ah, Red, you are sadly misinformed. Six years of putting up with us and you don't know that we don't need books?"

"Firstly, don't call me Red. Secondly, we weren't exactly best mates. Thirdly, I know for a fact that you guys constantly steal Remus's books rather than checking out your own" Lily informed him, scraping up the last bits of crust.

"Ha! She's got you there, Pads!" Remus sniggered. Lily pulled her legs over the side of the bench.

"I'm done, see you later"

"Bye" Mary said glancing up from her notes that were spread around her on the table. After Lily left, Sirius laughed.

"James says that, and I quote 'Love stinks'"

"Poor guy" Marlene said sympathetically, picking a strand of her sleek brown hair out of her mouth and grimacing. Sirius smiled and shrugged.

"He'll get over it, eventually. He always does."

* * *

Lily's auburn curls bounced as she hurried down the corridor toward the library. She rifled through her bag in search of the library book she needed to return. As she rounded the corner, she ran smack dab into someone.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed as she glanced up. She caught her breath as she recognized the group of Slytherins before her.

"Well what have we here?" Mulciber sneered.

"The mudblood!" Avery cackled. Lily sighed.

"Excuse me" she said with fake politeness, glancing at the third member of the group and noticing that the familiar greasy hair fell in sheets around a thinner than usual face. "Snape." She spat. "I should've known you'd be hanging out with these gits." Mulciber's wand was pointing at her before she could continue.

"How dare you treat us with anything but the utmost respect, mudblood!" he snapped.

"I would say the same to you" she hissed back, eyes flashing.

"Let's see how well the mudblood _girl,_ no less, can fight" Avery challenged, whipping out his wand. Lily was furious, now. And if anyone is smart, they know not to challenge a furious Lily Evans. "Levicorpus!" he yelled. Lily dodged the spell, firing one of her own and missing. How dare he attack her! Mulciber laughed.

"You fight like a girl" he jeered. Lily glared at him, infuriated. No one said to Lily Evans, one of the top duelers in her year, that she fought like a girl. Frankly, it was sexist because if girls were great fighters and guys were bad fighters, then it would be a compliment! Lily laughed and shot a spell at him, and the distraction it caused gave her enough time to slip under his guard and punch him in the nose. He fell to the ground clutching his nose. Lily grabbed her now throbbing knuckles.

"Let's go, Avery" Snape pleaded.

"Why would we, when there's still so much fun to be had? Crucio!" he laughed. Lily leapt out of the way, but she wasn't quite fast enough and the spell hit her.

She screamed. Needles were piercing her skin, her muscles were burning, her abdomen was cramping, she was gasping for air, writhing on the ground. She heard footsteps running, then, in a blessedly familiar voice that was usually used for asking her out;

"What the hell, Avery?" Avery's concentration broke and the spell lifted. Lily gasped for breath as she glimpsed James' fist connect with Avery's face. She hauled herself up into a sitting position. Severus slipped over to her.

"Lily, are you okay?" He asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, obviously I'm wonderful. I was just tortured, what do you think?" She snapped sarcastically. "And get away from me, grease ball." Severus looked like he'd been slapped but stood. Lily looked up again to see James hurrying towards her and Severus.

"Move" he said simply, but there was a dangerous glint in his eyes that almost scared Lily. If she was Snape, she'd be terrified. Severus moved. "Can you walk?" he asked extending his hand, forehead creased with worry.

"I will" Lily said determinedly. James pulled her up and she stumbled. James caught her and she steadied herself.

"Do you want to go to the hospital wing?"

"I'm fine. I just need to sit down."

"Are you sure?"

"Just help me get back to the bloody common room, okay?" Lily ordered, squeezing her eyes shut. James looked worried. They walked slowly through the corridors and James helped her up the steps.

"What happened exactly?" he asked.

"I was going to the library, to find you actually and apologize when I bumped into Mulciber. They started insulting me and I tried to walk away but Avery tried to hex me. I shot a spell at them and they taunted me about 'fighting like a girl' the stupid gits, so I punched Mulciber. Avery used the cruciatus on me and then you came" Lily finished.

"You _punched_ Mulciber?" James asked, mouth hanging open in surprise.

"What?" Lily said, a little defensively.

"I just didn't have you marked down as the punching type" he explained. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Password?" the Fat Lady inquired.

"Gillyweed" James answered. The portrait hole opened and James helped Lily climb carefully through. As Lily limped over to the couch, Marlene turned around.

"Lily! What happened? What's wrong?" She asked frantically.

"She was tortured" James growled, eyes dark with anger. "By the Slythergits." Marlene gasped.

"Oh my gosh, Lily. Do you need to go to the hospital wing? Here sit down." She offered Lily her seat and Lily gratefully took it.

"I'm fine, I just need to rest" She insisted. Marlene looked about to protest, but she was stopped as Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Mary clambered through the portrait hole. Sirius noticed the two hovering around Lily.

"What happened, Ginger?" Sirius asked. Lily scowled at the nickname but answered.

"I was tortured"

"By those good for nothing sniveling bigots!" Marlene almost howled with rage.

"Calm down, Marls. No one died" Lily said. The others looked outraged, also.

"I will kill them!" Sirius, Remus, and Mary shouted in unison, turning for the door, hands halfway to their wands.

"Guys, stop. James already offered." Surprisingly, Sirius sighed.

"Fine" he allowed. "But if they ever lay a hand on you again they'll have to answer to me." Remus and Mary turned back and Remus took a seat next to Lily and began questioning her vigorously.

"I'm fine, honestly" Lily protested. Remus ignored her.

"Are you feeling any more residual pain?"

"No"

"Are you dizzy? Nauseous? Faint?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"I'm just tired, now leave it!" And her concerned friend finally obeyed.

* * *

Sirius beckoned for James to follow him up to the boys' dorm. James followed, stealing a glance back at where Lily's friends were clustered around her. When the two boys arrived at their dorm, Sirius immediately whipped around.

"You were awfully quiet down there, Prongs. Is everything okay?" James rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Yes, I'm just brilliant" he said sarcastically. The love of my life just got tortured and she probably still hates me! Yes, I'm _wonderful."_

"You aren't giving up on her, though. We won't let you."

"Won't let me? These are my feelings, Padfoot. You should try asking the girl you love if she would help you with charms and being rejected without even knowing what I was asking. I'm stopping if I want to. I've been hurt enough by her. I don't want to be hurt again!" He yelled. His friend looked saddened, but let it be. James sighed and flopped on his bed.

"Love stinks" He muttered.

* * *

Lily woke with a start to see the fire in the Gryffindor common room dwindling and James Potter quietly reading a book with a plate of food in front of him. She observed him for a moment and watched as he did mundane things like push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. The she spoke.

"Hi" He jumped and dropped his book with a thump, sliding out of his chair. He sat up.

"Ow" He deadpanned. Lily started giggling. Then after a while James joined. It was kind of funny after all.

"Snorry!" she forced out through the giggles. I wonder where the old obnoxious Potter went? She wondered. Anyway, she was surprised that he was being so nice and un-prattish.

"Did you just say snorry?" he asked, catching his breath. She was so beautiful when she laughed. Her striking curls tumbled down her back and her emerald eyes lit up beautifully as a slim hand raised to cover her smiling mouth.

"I brought you some dinner" he said, indicating the plate in front of him.

"Thanks" she replied, popping a grape into her mouth. They chatted and laughed for a while in a very un-Lily and James-ish way. Lily was wondering what had come over her to be friendly with Potter. Though he did just save her from being tortured for any longer, so that was something. Finally, Lily finished eating and stretched.

"I'm going to go upstairs" she yawned. James agreed. They stood up and made their way to their respective staircases. Before she ascended the stairs, though, she paused and said, "James?"

"What?" he asked.

"Thank you for today" she smiled grimly.

"Anytime"

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! This is my first ever long fic, so I hope that you guys like it. I'm not an experienced writer, in fact I've never actually had formal writing lessons, so this probably isn't as good as it could be, but I'm gonna take a writing class this fall so hopefully I will improve. Also, I will try super hard NOT to abandon this story. If you have any CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms, feel free to comment or PM me. I won't tolerate flames, though, so if you have a problem with my story DON'T READ IT!

Now onto more pleasant things. How do you like my characters so far? I've only written one-shots, so I'm not too familiar with character development etc. I have a hard time not rushing through the story and with not ignoring characters. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated!

I love Jily (Why do some people call it Limes? I mean neither are very good ship names, but at least Jily isn't a tropical fruit. Oh well), so it'll be exciting to write a story about them. I'm planning on jumping around the points of view, so I'll let you know at the beginning of each chapter what the PoV is. Also, look up the songs I'm using as chapter titles! I think that the songs have relevant names/lyrics/or both. The songs are the inspiration for the chapters because I was listening to them and I was thinking 'well what if…'

Anyway, enough rambling! I'll hopefully update in a week-ish, maybe sooner, maybe later, depends on how long it takes to write the third chapter (I think it'll be good to always have a backup chapter so you guys aren't kept waiting).

Where-We-Are-Just-And-Loyal

(What possessed me to make such a long pen name? Okay, shutting up now!)


	2. Freak Out

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the song 'Freak Out'. They belong to JKR and the band _Chic_.

* * *

'Exam Time'

or

'Freak out'

(Lily's PoV)

"Bloody hell!" I screeched as I glanced at my watch. Transfiguration was in five minutes. As I shoved my books and unfinished essay in my bag, Madam Pince glanced up, opening her mouth angrily. "I know, I know, volume, I've got class though, you can yell at me later!" Pince looked dumbstruck as I brushed past her. A few students glanced up from where they were intent on their books. It was exam time and everyone was exhausted. Including me. I had been studying so much and even though I knew I would pass my exams, I was still nervous. Exams started in not three days and I was panicking. Not as much as Hestia, but I was still studying every minute of every darn day.

As I burst through the doors to the Transfiguration classroom, McGonagall looked up sharply. "Miss Evans, you are late to class. I expect better of you!"

"I'm sorry Professor, it won't happen again." I panted as I slid into my seat, conveniently located next to Potter and Black. Great. I really needed to sit next to the biggest troublemakers in the whole school in the class that I had the most trouble with. I pulled out my books and began to arrange them on my desk, flipping to the review page that McGonagall called.

"Hey Evans, what's up?" Potter asked me, running a hand through his jet-black hair. I glanced up.

"Studying" I said. Black chuckled from where he was sat on the other side of Potter. "What?" I asked a little defensively.

"Prongs and I here have a pact about not studying too much during exam time" he said. I rolled my eyes. Honestly, those two.

"Nothing wrong with studying, though" James interjected quickly.

"That's rich coming from you who does their homework the night before." I scoffed, fiddling with the corner of the page.

"Actually, that's not necessarily true" he informed me. "We just don't stress about it." Of course. I pointedly stuck my nose in the text book. Potter got the hint and turned away just as McGonagall began to speak.

"Today we are going to be reviewing how to…" I tuned her out. Bad thing to do, as it turns out. I'm horrible at Transfiguration but today, instead of having my usual problem of not being able to perform the spell without Marlene's help, I didn't even know what the spell I was supposed to be using was. A Ravenclaw, Benjamin Hopkirk I think his name was, walked around passing out buckets to each desk.

I sat there like the idiot I was until my stupid pride gave out and I hissed to the boys, "What the name of Merlin's saggy left earlobe are we supposed to be practicing?"

James' s eyebrows shot up. "Don't tell me Lily I-know-everything-in-the-whole-world-and-I-am-a-perfect-prefect-and-all-that-other-dumb-crap Evans wasn't paying attention in class?" he teased. Black's silver-grey eyes twinkled. I was going to kill them.

"We're supposed to be turning buckets into drinking glasses and back" Black laughed, flicking his wand and performing the spell.

"Thank you" I said stiffly, turning back to pick up my wand. I muttered the incantation and the bucket morphed. I muttered another spell to change it back.

"Nice work" Potter complimented. I looked at him shocked. Had Potter, arrogant conceited, my-head-is-so-big-I'm-surprised-my-broom-can-get-off-the-ground, Potter just complimented me? My head spun and I wrenched my stare away from the two boys who had begun to joke with each other. That was the second time in 2 weeks Potter had spoken with more than his usual passive politeness to me. Now that I thought about it, Potter had been less overbearing lately. Weird. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and turned back to my parchment.

* * *

"Erm, Lily?" someone stuttered to my right. I glanced up from my essay. Peter Pettigrew, a rather mousy boy with watery blue eyes, was standing in front of me. In the background, I could see Black, Potter, Remus, Hestia, Emmeline, Mary, and Marlene. They were huddled around the table in front of the fire, laughing and studying.

"What?" I asked, glancing pointedly at my History of Magic essay.

"I was wondering if you would help me with the charms homework, since, you know, you're the best charms student in our year." I sighed and glanced at my parchment before standing up. Peter's eyes lit up and he led me over to his friends.

"Nice seeing you here, Evans" Potter greeted me cordially. I jerked my head in what I hoped was an appropriate gesture for the one-sided animosity Potter and I shared. I plopped down next to Peter on the floor.

"What seems to be the problem?" I asked. Peter grabbed a couple papers, a quill and a textbook and set them before us.

"Every time I try and do the aguamenti spell, I only get a couple drops of water instead of a steady stream" the mousy boy explained.

"Try the spell" I ordered. Peter said the spell and flailed his wand. I inspected his movements and concluded. "The problem is that you are moving your wand too much, it needs to be more of a quick twist to the left." I demonstrated. Pettigrew tried it, failed, tried again and a jet of water shot out of his wand tip and hit Sirius straight in the face. Black spluttered and wiped his eyes.

"Bloody Merlin Wormtail, you couldn't have aimed somewhere else, could you?" Peter sniggered. I joined in. The sight of Black's precious hair disheveled and soaking wet was surprisingly funny when compared with his expression. It looked like he'd been covered with stinksap, not water.

I stood up to leave but Marlene spoke. "Leaving so soon? Sit with us, it'll be more fun!" she coaxed. I shrugged, but smiled, unusually glad to be invited.

"Sure" I stood up and stepped over Hestia to get my book bag from the table. Shoving Marlene off the couch, I stole the brunette's spot.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, pretending to look wounded. Emmeline giggled from where she had been murmuring with Mary. Mary just so happened to be bright red. "Spill when we get up to the dorm" Marlene ordered before picking herself up off the floor.

"Who said I had anything to spill?" Mary asked innocently, though her pink cheeks gave her away, as did the look on our plump roommate's face. Emmeline's rich brown eyes sparkled with secrets. I often envied those eyes. My eye/hair combo made me look like a walking Christmas face, literally.

"I know that look" Marlene said wisely, perching on the arm of Sirius's chair. I groaned, knowing what was coming.

Turning her body to face Sirius, she leaned down to whisper something in his ear. He chuckled and replied, "Let's see about that, eh?" I narrowed my eyes. Why did Marlene always have to flirt with bloody Black? It was kind of irritating because she always whispered in his ear so everything had to be relayed later that night in a long-involved conversation over chocolate frogs and treacle tart. I rolled up my essay.

"I'm going to bed" I announced. Exams started tomorrow and I wanted to be well rested for them. I said as much when Hestia complained.

"But Lily! We only have another week of sixth year! Shouldn't we have some fun?"

I rolled my eyes and yawned. "We can have fun next year, okay?" I yelled as I slugged up the stairs. I could see her roll her eyes in my mind.

"Merlin, she is a strange one, Lily" I heard Potter chuckle before I shut my door and snuggled into bed.

* * *

I woke the next morning and leapt out of bed. Exams started in an hour! I ran a brush through my hair as the other girls started waking up.

"Why are exams always so bloody early?" Marlene complained, yawning. I smiled and grabbed my bag.

"They're at the same time as classes on normal days" I said, hoisting my bag onto my shoulder. "You just don't want to write for three hours."

"You know me too well for your own good" grumbling.

"Hey, wait up!" Mary cried, frantically dragging a brush through her dark brown hair. "I'm almost ready!" I sighed and sat down to wait for my friend.

"If you want to eat breakfast with me, you should start getting up earlier" I muttered. Mary ignored me knowing I wasn't mad and slipped on her school flats.

"Ready!" she announced. I stood and we descended the steps to the common room.

As we entered the great hall, Mary glanced over at the Hufflepuff table. I followed her gaze. My eyes landed on her herbology partner, Reg Cattermole. He was a slightly ferrety looking boy with brown eyes, but he was kind of cute. Comprehension dawned on me.

"You like him!" I shrieked, bouncing up and down. Mary clapped a hand over my mouth, her gold hoop earrings swinging as she frantically shook her head. "Mmmfp" I mumbled

"Don't yell about it" she hissed, removing her hand. This turned out to be a bad idea on her part.

"This is what you and Emmeline were giggling about last night! OH, you two will be so cute together!" I squealed, clapping my hands. She glared daggers at me, but I ignored her, piling bacon on my plate. "Ahh, young love." I sighed dreamily. Mary smacked me.

"Now, now, violence is punishable with detention" I warned, mock serious. She made a sarcastic face. Wait, is that even possible? Oh, why not, of course it's possible. I glanced over at my friend who was distractedly shoveling eggs into her mouth while staring at a certain someone and smiled. She might deny it, but now that I knew her secret I could tease her incessantly.

* * *

"Ah, exams are over!" I sang cheerily, laying back on the soft grass. Marlene plopped down next to me, stuffing her quill into her bag.

"We all knew you'd get perfect scores without stressing. I however, am certain I failed everything" She grumbled.

"Oh, don't be so cynical, I'm sure you did fine" Emmeline encouraged. Marlene rolled her blue eyes and gazed up at the sky. As we stared at the fluffy white clouds drifting lazily about for a while, we heard the murmuring of voices around the lake and the lapping of waves against the shore. Occasionally there would be the whoosh of an owl flying overhead.

"That cloud looks like a dog" she pointed to the cloud. I looked.

"It looks more like a donkey, in my opinion" I snorted.

"No, no" Emmeline interjected. "It looks like a hippogriff."

"What about that one?" Mary pointed. "It looks like Snape's nose." I frowned out of principle as I looked, noticed how much it looked like my ex-best-friend-turned-Death-Eater's nose, and burst out laughing.

"You're right" I giggled.

"Who's right?" A new voice spoke. I looked around to see Potter leaning casually on a tree.

"Sod off, Potter" I suggested halfheartedly. He grinned. Stupid arse had to butt his overinflated toerag head into everything I did. Wow, I really have a brilliant amount insults for that boy.

"Hey Prongs! That cloud looks like Snivelly's nose!" A mirth filled voice rang out behind us.

"Hi Black" Emmeline greeted.

"Well, well, well, aren't we looking… pulchritudinous… today" I teased. James laughed softly and Black looked confused.

"What's that mean?"

"I thought you were one of the top students at Hogwarts?" Emmeline snickered.

"That doesn't mean I read dictionaries for fun"

"Let's just say it describes Cinderella" I laughed. Mary joined in, being Muggleborn and therefore understanding my reference. Sirius's face screwed up in confusion.

"What's that, a disease?"

"Nope!" I said, popping the p. He rolled his eyes.

"Bloody girls" he muttered. "Come on, Prongs." He said, dragging James away by the elbow.

"Bye, ladies" Potter called, waving. Marlene waved back. I stared resolutely at the sky.

"Oh, come on, Lily. It wouldn't kill you to be nice to him…." I snorted.

"Watch it" Mary warned. "She can really hold a grudge sometimes. Don't get in her bad books because she might not write you over the summer."

"Hey!" I protested. "I'm not evil, of course I'll write to you Marlene! Don't listen to her!"

"Why should I believe you?" Marlene teased. I lunged at her and started tickling her. "Hey!" she screeched. "Help! Emmeline! Mary!" Mary grinned and sat back against the tree.

"Oh, knock it off" Emmeline said, though she was smiling good-naturedly. I sat up and Marlene glared at me.

"What was that all about?" she complained.

"I've got to what was it, 'live a little' I believe Hestia said last night" I noted.

"Oh naturally, you start by a _t_ t _a_ c _k_ i _n_ g me."

"I didn't _attack_ you."

"Yes, you did!"

* * *

"Bye Marlene! "I cried, throwing my arms around my friend. "Be sure to write this summer."

"No need to be so heartbroken, we'll see each other in three months, and possibly in Diagon Alley" rolling her eyes.

"That's three months!" I dramatized. She rolled her eyes again.

"Bye, Lily" she said pointedly.

"Bye" I grumbled at her unsentimentality (is that even a word?), knowing she would be writing me to complain about her brothers in a week at most.

"Bye Evans" a new voice murmured next to me. I looked up surprised.

"Bye Potter, Black" I nodded to the boy standing behind his best mate.

"Lily!" a voice cried from behind me. I spun around, my eyes lighting up.

"Oh, Remus, goodbye" I said, giving him a quick hug.

"Bye, hey be sure to write" he smiled.

I nodded. "Of course." The four of us stood there smiling like the awkward idiots we were for a while until I said "I gotta go and find the other girls, so bye!"

"Oh, right" Remus said, stepping aside. "Bye."

"Mary! Emme! Hestia!" I yelled, spotting my friends and walked swiftly towards them. There were lots of 'goodbye's' and 'be sure to write's' as I hugged them in turn.

"You're crying already?" I teased Emmeline. She wiped her eyes.

"I just love you guys so much!" she said. Hestia hugged her and I patted her head. She glared at me over Hestia's shoulder.

"I'm not a dog, Lily"

"I could have been fooled by those eyes" I smiled cheekily.

"Lily!" Another, oh so familiar voice greeted. I turned around.

"Mum!" I shrieked. "Dad!" I ran to them and hugged them tightly.

"Hi baby girl" Dad said, smiling. Mum kissed my cheek and I beamed up at my parents, glad to see them again. Also, glad that me, my bed, and the fridge could spend some quality time together. And to see Tuney if she would be nice to me. But mostly to see my parents, yes. And with that, I turned and walked with my parents off the platform for my last summer before I graduated school.

* * *

A/N: Hello all! I hope you enjoy the chapter. I wrote this one in Lily's PoV because it just felt right. I'll probably be writing from Lily and James' PoV's as well as third person because some chapters sound better that way. I will put a note at the beginning telling you what the perspective is so no one gets confused. :)

In response to my reviewer, Choc0 Chipz, yes this starts in sixth year and goes to the end of seventh.

Also, last night, I had a dream that I got a review. Maybe it was an omen that one (or more!) kind readers will review? (maybe that wasn't as subtle as it was supposed to be?)

Anyway, thanks for reading! If you have any tips or constructive criticisms, tell me!

Where-We-Are-Just-And-Loyal


	3. Summer Breeze

Disclaimer: Jo Rowling owns Harry Potter and Cat Stevens owns 'Summer Breeze'. Not me.

'Letters'

or

'Summer Breeze'

Dear Lily,

Save me! Save me from the wrath my overprotective older brothers and my evil younger ones! I'll do anything! Beg, plead, get down on my hands and knees. Bloody hell, I'll be your personal slave, just get me out of here!

Literally, Jacob (you've met him, right? He's the oldest one. Oh, obviously you've met him. You stayed at my house) keeps nagging me about not going ANYWHERE without one of my siblings. It's like, honestly Jacob? I'm overage now, I can protect myself. But he won't listen. Git.

Speaking of annoying siblings, has Petunia pulled her broomstick out of her arse and realized you are a person? No? Yes? Do you want me to come over and help you turn her into a toothpick and Vermin into a whale? Honestly, when will she dump Dursley? I'll stop with the questions now, but I'm prepared to apparate over there and keep you from blowing them up. Not that you will, but, you know, you aren't the greatest Transfiguration student ever.

Other than brothers, life has been okay. We played quidditch a few days ago and had dinner with the Potters because our parents had 'Auror business'. Doubtful, they love the Potters. It was likely an excuse to go see them. And if you are wondering, James and Sirius didn't cause the apocalypse.

Anyway, Mum's calling me to go clean the bathroom. I'm planning on forcing Aiden to clean the toilet. Evil older sister eye glint thingy. That didn't sound as good on paper as it did in my head. Merlin, I'm pathetic.

Love,

Your desperate friend Marlene

Evans,

How has your summer been? Mine's been great. **Yeah, Prongs has had so much fun doing…** Shut up Sirius! Write your own letter… **But I don't want to!** Anyway, Sirius persuaded me to write this letter… **because he spent two weeks trying to decide if you would send a howler back…** so we decided to bewitch the quill to write what we say… **but I said there's only one way to find out!** But it seems he has hijacked my letter.

Anyway, we've been playing quidditch, mostly. Trying out new moves etc. **oh yes Prongs, etc. your life**... I thought in told you to shut up? Marlene came over for dinner a few nights ago and we had a brilliant time. The three of us played a hilarious prank on her brothers… **It was entirely my idea…** don't lie Pads, Marlene had the stroke of genius.

We took a trip to Diagon Alley where we got ice cream and dungbombs… **oooh, I can't wait to see Filchy's face!** And looked in Quality Quidditch Supplies. **And we saw some pretty hot girls.** SHUT UP PADS! GET OUT!

I apologize for Sirius. What have you been up to lately? Oh. Wait, I asked that already, jeez, I'm pathetic at the letter writing business. Anyway, bye.

James

Dear Marlene,

No, Tuney hasn't stopped being a brat, no there is no hope of losing the whale. Unfortunately, they look closer to becoming Mr. Whale and Mrs. Toothpick Dursley. Wonderful, eh?

Anyway, other than that, I haven't been up to much. I've read five novels in the last three days and been going to the park in between. Yesterday, Severus was at the park and we fought. Badly. Then a random shriveled up old lady hobbled over to us and started screeching about how she had an arranged marriage and therefore we ought to be glad we have choices and so we should go snog somewhere. GROSS. Merlin, Snape was fuming. It was quite entertaining to see her screeching at him and have him just stand there like a block of stone (you know how he gets). Then she started screeching about how he needed to wash his 'filthy greasy hair you ragamuffin'. I started laughing so hard I had to go home before she turned on me. I hope Severus got what he deserves.

I also went to then record store and got the new Fleetwood Mac album, Rumours. It's great! I've been stealing all Tuney's and Dad's albums to catch up on muggle music because let's face it, wizard music is not the best.

Mum's been forcing me to clean and work in her garden. I like flowers but I'm not fond of bugs/dirt/weeding/the itchy feeling leaves give me. Other than that, Mum and I had a girl's night which was fun. We did each other's nails and watched an episode of M*A*S*H. It's ruddy annoying, though because I miss so much of the show while at school. It's still great. And the American accents are so weird! I don't know how people talk that way. I've tried before and failed horribly. Anyway.

I hope to see you soon! By the way, have you heard from Mary?

Love, Lily

Potter,

I must admit, your letter made me laugh quite a bit.

Hopefully the dungbombs don't make their way into _someone's_ cough _mine_ cough knicker drawer. Also, what type of prank did you and Marlene play? She hinted it was quite the prank, but refused to say anything more.

I've mostly been reading. Also, I've been going to the park across the street a lot. I saw Sev there a few days ago, but once we started yelling at each other, some random old lady came up to him and started screeching, so I left. His face was hilarious!

Have you seen the newspapers lately? Oh, and by the way, is Sirius looking callipygous lately?

Lily

Lily,

What does callipygous mean? We asked Remus but he just started laughing hard and refused to tell us. _Do you honestly think I would tell you what that means?_ Oh, shut up, I don't need more people ruining my letters.

The prank Marlene came up with was indeed hilarious! We charmed all the water to taste soapy and the food to make balloons come out of everyone's ears if they took a bite. Mum thought it was hilarious, she was laughing so hard.

I'm not making any promises about the dungbombs, so keep your nose plugged.

Yes, I have seen the newspapers lately. It is horrible what Voldemort and his Death Eaters are doing- they killed a family of five muggles yesterday for no apparent reason. Sirius and I are determined to fight, though. Do you want to fight?

James

Dear Lily,

How are you? France is AMAZING! The food is completely delicious, I have eaten so many croissants and macarons. We've been hiking around the little town we're staying in. there are so many cute little shops and restaurants. I've been going to this one bakery every day for breakfast. There is a highly attractive boy who works there, so I may be going to lunch with him one of these days. Cue wink.

The town is built around a beautiful lake. The name is lake Annecy. The water is the most beautiful blue-green you will ever see, and there is a beach that I'm going to tomorrow. The water is supposed to be the perfect temperature this time of year.

My brothers and I went hiking to the Gorges du Fier, which is a footbridge over a little river canyon. It was an amazing view from the bridge, looking across the lake and seeing the sun sparkling on the waves. We ate a picnic, then hiked home.

I hope your summer has been good!

Love, Mary

 _Lily stepped out into the breeze. It was a beautiful day. She was heading over to the park._ The one where Sev and I always met, _she thought, idly wondering if he'd be there. Oh well, he wasn't worth the worrying. She sat on the swings and gazed at the blue sky and clouds and heard the laughs and happy noises that the muggles made, unaware of the threats of Voldemort and his followers._

 _"Lily?" She jumped and turned._

 _"Severus" she said stiffly. "What do you want?"_

 _"I just want to apologize- I didn't mean it!"_

 _"You didn't mean it? Oh that's wonderful, Sev! We can be friends again!" Lily exclaimed. Snapes eyes lit up._

 _"Really?"_

 _Lily snorted "Obviously not. Are you really that stupid? I'm not going to be friends with someone who hurts me and hates my kind, but makes an exception because they 'love me'. You're an arse, Snape."_

 _"Please, Lily" Snape begged, grabbing her arm as she turned to storm away._

 _"Let go of me!" She hissed, green eyes flashing dangerously._

 _"Just hear me out!"_

 _"NO!" Lily yelled. "I'm done with you and your bloody Death Eaters and lies and general unemotional greased block of stone façade!" Snape's black eyes were hollow and angry._

 _"Fine, run to precious Potter and his brilliant marauders and ignore your best friend!"_

 _"You stopped being my friend the instant you called me a MUDBLOOD!" she hurled the word at him. Snape's hand flew to his pocket as if for his wand then seemed to think better of it._

 _"Go away and be with your precious little Death Eater friends and your dear Voldemort who will kill you eventually!"_

 _"Stop that screeching right this instant! An old woman is trying to sleep here!" some hunched shriveled old woman screamed shrilly. "Teenagers these days need to be glad they have choices and don't have arranged marriages like I did! Go snog somewhere! And wash your hair!" She looked rather mad. Snape was standing stiffly with a look of revulsion and panic on his face. Lily stifled a laugh and dashed in the other direction. The last thing she heard and saw was Snape mumbling something and the old woman screeching back, and chasing after him trying to whack him over the head with her handbag._

 _Lily ran into the house and smashed into her sister. Petunia looked ready to yell. "Sorry, Tuney. Running from Snape and some mad old lady." Petunia seemed to stifle a smile before she turned wordlessly and left the house, leaving Lily staring after her._

A/N: I can't say that I like this chapter all that much, but oh well. It feels kind of rushed.

I have been to Annecy, it is the most gorgeous color ever. My mom who was driving at the time kept looking at it and gushing and we kept shouting "Pay attention to the road, Mom!".

I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please review!

Where-We-Are-Just-And-Loyal


	4. Back Home Again

Disclaimer: I'm not JKR or John Denver

'Feasts and First Days'

Or

'Back Home Again'

 _Dear Miss Evans,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you are this year's Head Girl. We know that you will take this responsibility seriously. You and your fellow head will be responsible for organizing prefect patrols and you will also be responsible for tutoring or organizing tutoring for students. Each head student will also have a separate room in the dormitories. Our selection for Head Boy is Mr. James Potter._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Lily scanned the parchment again. Potter was Head Boy? Literally the most irresponsible boy in their year was _Head Boy?_ Dumbledore was off his rocker. But she was HEAD GIRL! Lily dropped her parchment on her bed.

"Mum! Dad! Petunia!" Lily yelled. She dashed down the steps, waving her badge like a shiny banner. "I'm Head Girl!"

* * *

"Bye Tuney!" I said, giving my grudging sister a hug. She tried to smile at me, though it was half grimace.

"See you next year" she grumbled. I grinned and hugged my parents' goodbye.

"Be sure to write!" My mum urged.

"And don't go around with boys" Dad warned, his eyes twinkling. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my trunk and cat, sending a mental goodbye to my house. I smiled remembering all the lazy days eating and sleeping and attacking Tuney with the hose when her back was turned and watching the telly with Mum and Dad. I turned on the spot and reappeared on platform 9 ¾. It was 10: 50. I needed to get on the train.

As I hoisted my trunk onto the train, I felt some of the weight being lifted off the other side and glanced up. Potter, his Head Boy badge gleaming in the sun. "Um, thanks" I said awkwardly as I grabbed my cat carrier. "How was your summer?"

"Meh, nothing much happened, really. I played Quidditch with my mates and ate a lot" he answered. I grinned a little awkwardly. "What did you do?" he asked.

"Slept. Ate. Sprayed Tuney with the hose. Watched the telly."

"The what?"

"The telly- you know, movies, TV shows?"

"It's like, some sort of moving picture? Kind of like wizard photos?"

"Yeah. I'll have to show you some movies sometime!" I said, then realized what I'd said and waited, dreaded the suggestive comment that was likely to come after my idea. Surprisingly, Potter just nodded and smiled.

"I'd like that" He turned and disappeared, leaving me a bit flustered.

"What was that?" I muttered to myself as I dragged my trunk down the corridor, looking for my friends.

"Lils!" I heard a squeal from behind me. I turned.

"Mary!" I hugged her. "How was France? Here, let me put my trunk up then you can tell me all about it." I settled in my seat and let my tabby cat, Minnie, out of her basket. She was named by the Marauders. I was cuddling her while she was a kitten in the common room and Potter and Black were talking about McGonagall and calling her _Minnie_ of all things. They mentioned that she can turn into a tabby cat and started calling my cat Minnie. Eventually, the name stuck. Honestly, I think I've seen Dumbledore asking my cat about lesson plans.

"France was amazing! That water!" Mary swooned. "It was so blueeee."

"You talking about France?" a voice came from the doorway. I glanced up.

"Marlene!" Mary and I tackled her in a hug. Minnie yowled at the disturbance.

"Glad to see you too!" Marlene joked, her pink glossed lips curving into a smile.

"How was your summer?" Mary asked.

"Okay. I'll tell you more about it later, but mostly I went over to the Potter's for dinner a few times and ate and annoyed my brothers and swam. What about you two?"

"Pretty good. I annoyed Petunia and ate and slept pretty much. Watched the telly a lot."

"France was brilliant-!" Mary went into a long-winded explanation about her trip. I glanced at my watch.

"I got to go! Prefect's meeting"

"Oh yeah, you're Head Girl! Cool, good luck with the meeting"

* * *

As I passed the compartments, I thought about the meeting. I was kind of nervous. What if I messed up? I wasn't paying attention and ran into someone.

"Lily flower! Spiffing to see you here, how was your summer?" Black greeted me. His stormy gray eyes crinkled down at me in a smile and his black hair glistened. He really was quite good looking.

"Ah, decent" I said. "I have to go to the prefects meeting now. Did your friends go yet?"

"They just left. I won't detain you any longer" He grinned, winked and tipped an imaginary hat at me before disappearing into another compartment. I heard sighs and turned to see starry eyed girls swooning after Sirius. I rolled my eyes and continued my journey to the prefect's compartment.

"Stop it" I heard. I realized that Potter was ahead of me in the corridor holding back a girl with glossy brown hair in a ponytail. Across from her was a tall Ravenclaw boy whose wand was in Remus's hand.

"No! He was trying to feel up my little sister when she told him to stop!" she struggled against James.

"She was kissing me!" the boy protested. Remus growled a little.

"Just because she was kissing you doesn't mean you are entitled to her body" he snapped, eyes flaring with anger. People were gathering to watch the scene unfolding. A shorter girl with the same brown eyes as the girl James was holding back spoke up.

"Why don't we just forget this?" she said nervously, chewing her hair. James turned on her.

"We cannot just 'forget about this'" he said. "What he did was wrong." I stepped forward.

"What's going on here?" Potter looked up, relief clear in his hazel eyes.

"Malcolm here was trying to feel up Emily and she told him no but he continued and Sarah her older sister tried to punch him" he said in a rush.

"I see. Malcolm, 15 points from Ravenclaw and detention. Haven't you had the universal keep your hands to yourself drummed into your head?"

"It seems he hasn't" Remus mused. "Keep your hands to yourself."

"As much as I admire your wish to mash this wanker to a pulp, the establishment makes me obligated to give you detention instead, so detention, Sarah" James sighed, releasing her. She glowered ferociously at Malcolm and dragged her sister away. I walked up to James.

"You handled that well" I complimented him. He wiped a hand over his face.

"Thanks" he muttered.

"I mean it" I said sincerely. He smiled at me and I noticed for the first time how nice his eyes were. Then he ran his hand through his hair and ruined it. I pushed the door to the prefect's compartment open and stepped up to the desk, Potter following me and Remus seating himself in a chair at the middle. Once all the prefects assembled, I turned to face them.

"Hi, I'm your Head Boy, James Potter" Potter said before I could say anything. I heard a 'Well, duh' from the back of the room.

"And I am your Head Girl, Lily Evans" I introduced myself. "Now, there isn't much to discuss, but we will have a prefect meeting every month and we will assign patrol duties then."

"I have the schedule right here, so look at it before you leave." Potter spoke up, waving a stack of parchment around his head. I stifled a giggle. He looked ridiculous waving the papers around. One fluttered to the floor and he scrambled after it, cheeks red.

"Gryffindor's password is Silver Arrow and Slytherin's is Eel Eyes. If you have any questions regarding the schedule or anything else, come to me or Po- James" I amended. If we were to be working together, we might as well be on first name basis, right?

"See you next month!" James said. The prefects filed out, glancing at the schedule before they left until it was just James and me. I glanced awkwardly at James.

"Well, erm, nice seeing you I suppose."

"Likewise," he muttered back, swinging his bag over his shoulder and throwing a quick smile over his shoulder as he left.

I gathered my things and left in search my friends. I plopped down on the seat and stroked my cat.

"How was the meeting?" Marlene asked.

"Meh, fine. Potter is Head Boy, so he'd better be responsible" I reached over and swiped a pumpkin pasty from my friend. Marlene raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you would throw a tantrum"

I snorted. "Please, I'm not immature."

"O _h_ y _e_ a _h,_ you're _s_ o mature. Yelling at Potter day and night and nitpicking everything he does." I blushed.

"Well _sorry_ " I muttered. Marlene merely smiled. We continued chatting and reading until the train slid to a stop at Hogsmeade station. We rode up to the castle in the musty smelling carriages and climbed out at the enormous doors to the Great Hall, finding seats at the Gryffindor table and taking them. The Marauders seated themselves a little down the table. I glanced over at the Slytherin table and caught Severus's eye. He was flanked by the usual Avery and Mulciber. I looked away.

* * *

Professor McGonagall strode to the center of the hall carrying a tattered hat on a stool and trailed by a gaggle of nervous looking first years. She set the stool down and stepped back. The rip-mouth opened and sang:

" _In times of old when I was new,_

 _And barely just been bought,_

 _Old Godric swept me off his head and said,_

 _We as pillars four,_

 _Will imbue your every pore,_

 _With magic old and new,_

 _To make you think so you can link,_

 _Those of nerve and daring,_

 _To Godric Gryffindor,_

 _And those of loyal caring,_

 _To Helga Hufflepuff,_

 _One who values wisdom,_

 _Will stay with Ravenclaw,_

 _And those of great cunning,_

 _Will go to Slytherin,_

 _So, plop me on and I will see,_

 _Which of the pillars four,_

 _You will spend your stay therein,_

 _And learn the most from."_

Everybody clapped and McGonagall called the first name. After the sorting where Gryffindor gained 13 new students (yes!), Dumbledore stood and told us all to eat (and a few other words no one understood). The delicious food appeared and we all dug in, the older students laughing at the awe on the first years' faces.

"Want some peas?" I asked Mary, dishing some for myself. Mary wrinkled her nose and glanced at her plate.

"Nah, not right now"

"I wonder where Emmeline and Hestia are?" Marlene mused, buttering a piece of bread

"We'll see them in the dorm" I said. I lost myself in my thoughts as I ate. Eventually, dessert (treacle tart!) was served and the Marauders slid down the bench to my side.

"Oh, come on Evans!" Sirius enthused.

"Smile!" Remus coaxed.

"Be happy!" Peter suggested.

"We're back at Hogwarts!" James said. I stared at them, puzzled.

"What?" I asked.

"You were scowling?" James faltered slightly.

"Oh!" I laughed. "I was just thinking."

"Okay, just wanted to make sure you aren't mad at me, I'm trying to be cordial this year."

Oh, let's see, you are a git, you constantly prank everyone, you constantly hex others, you don't take your education seriously, you are always goofing off rather than focusing on school, you and your mates have life SOOO easy and you've got no problems, the list goes on and on and on and on. I forced those thoughts down. I knew that he had problems and that he and his friends cared about their education, they just liked laughs, but I couldn't help it after years of despising the boy.

"Brilliant." I muttered.

They started joking and I ignored them, Sirius consuming his food with indecent gusto.

Marlene stared at him. "You do know that if you continue to eat that fast, you're probably going to barf." I looked up at the sound of Marlene's voice and grinned. My friend was hilarious sometimes.

"Wonderful" James said sarcastically. Sirius managed to snicker around his bulging cheeks. I shot him a look. I turned to Remus, to ask him how his summer was.

"Okay. I traveled to Belgium for a week. We ate a ton of chocolate and waffles."

"You ate quaffles?" James inquired, jokingly. Remus rolled his eyes good naturedly at James.

"Yes. They were delicious little bits of leather drenched in chocolate and whipped cream." He quipped, just as Dumbledore stood to make his beginning of the year speech.

"Welcome, welcome, I hope you have all had delightful summers and are looking forward to the year ahead. A few rather important announcements, firstly, I wish for you all to know that the forest is no longer highly discouraged, it is the Forbidden Forest." His eyes twinkled toward the Marauders before continuing. "Secondly, your heads of houses will distribute your course schedules during breakfast tomorrow. Lastly, I want you all to know that Mr. Filch has told me to tell you that he has a new- larger than last year's - list of banned items and actions. I hope that you all sleep well and that pleasant dreams shall fill your minds. You may all go to your common rooms now."

After Professor Dumbledore dismissed the hall, everyone slowly rose from their tables, the prefects calling to the first years. I pushed through them with my friends. At least the Heads didn't have to herd the first years.

"First years, this way! The password is 'Silver Arrow'" I heard Remus shouting. I pushed through the crowd looking for James. I saw the back of his head and ran up to his side, tapping him on the shoulder. He turned toward me, surprise clear in his eyes. I could see Sirius over his shoulder looking rather down.

"Erm, you know we have separate rooms, right?" I asked. He looked surprised.

"We do?"

"Yeah, didn't you read the whole letter?"

"To be honest? No."

"Prongs here was in mourning about his appointment so he never finished the letter." Sirius volunteered with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes, I noticed.

"How did you know I was Head Girl then?"

"It was pretty obvious, you know" James snorted. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, just thought I'd let you know" I turned and slipped away through the crowd.

* * *

I climbed the stairs to girl's dormitory and pushed the door open.

"Hi Emme" I greeted my friend who was bent over her trunk and flopped on the bed.

"Hi guys!" she chirped, pulling out her toothbrush and sticking it in her mouth.

"How was your summer? I didn't see you at the feast." I replied.

"My family just stuck around the house all summer. It was so nice to be around the farm for a change and to take my horse riding around the lakes and in the hills. I spent my whole summer outdoors pretty much. It was great. Oh, and, I was visiting all my friends in other houses." Emmeline was a huge supporter of inter-house unity. I nodded, acknowledging her words, then turned to Marlene who hadn't been her usual chirpy self today.

"Okay, Marlene. Spill."

Marlene took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Gran died this summer. "My eyes widened.

"Oh Marlene, I'm so sorry." I breathed. Marlene shook her head, her eyes glistening.

"It's fine. She was old. She died July 14th, her 100th birthday." Marlene sighed. "But her last words were 'Kill that psychopathic bastard Voldy if you do nothing else.' She was the best." She laughed a little.

"That's an inspiring description of You-Know-Who." Emmeline tossed over her shoulder.

Mary giggled, a small smile forming on her lips. "That's not a half of what she used to say. I loved being around her. I have so many good memories with her. We'd laugh and play games and so many more things." Marlene then proceeded to retell stories about her grandmother.

"Ok, so she- "Marlene laughed "- She would always find new ways to describe people. For example, she once called You-Know–Who a spineless, evil, rotting, snakelike, psychotic. She's said funnier things, but that's the perfect description, I think."

"Spineless, rotting!" I giggled. "That really is perfect." Hestia emerged from the bathroom and yawned.

"What are you giggling about?" She inquired, tossing her hairbrush into her trunk and slipping between her sheets.

"Nothing." I replied. I sat up and stretched to get stuff from my trunk.

"You know, if you just got up and walked around to face it, it would be easier to find your stuff." Emmy supplied tonelessly, pulling a quilt over her head and sighing with contentment.

"Where _is_ my trunk?" I wondered. Marlene chuckled and pulled on her pajamas. I groaned and dragged myself lazily off the bed, then facepalmed. "Duh! It's in my room."

Hestia's eyes widened. "You have a ROOM?!"

"Yeah. It's at the top of the girl's staircase" I said casually, turning to leave the room. "G'night."

"Good night" Marlene whispered back. I left, climbing the stairs to my room. It was brilliant. The four poster was in the middle of the right wall and there was a window seat for reading on the opposite wall. There was a bookcase and desk and a soft, worn rug. My trunk was at the end of the bed and there was a door leading to a small private bathroom. There was a corkboard over the desk. I quickly changed and brushed my teeth, then fell into bed and closed my eyes, reveling in the softness of the sheets. I flicked my wand to turn of the light and closed my eyes, falling into a deep, dreamless, slumber. I was back home again.

* * *

When I woke in the morning, I was NOT in the mood for class. I slugged down to breakfast and only woke up when I started crying laughing because Mary fell asleep on Peter and overbalanced so she fell face first into his porridge. It was slightly hilarious, I was just too out of it to realize it wasn't as funny as I thought. I got some weird looks.

Then Sprout had her 'I'm disappointed in you but I'm too much of a kind Hufflepuff to tell you so' look when I didn't know the answer to some question on the flutterby bush. Seriously, what is the use of a flutterby bush anyway? It's probably got like, ten million super important uses. Nothing necessary to know.

Of course, in Potions, I was paired with Snape who wouldn't look me in the eye and spoke one-word answers to my own short sentences and got grease all over my homework.

Needless to say, after my long day of classes (DON'T say the first day is always the hardest), I really did not feel like patrolling the corridors, but I had to. Near the end of my two hours, as I was climbing the stairs to the Astronomy tower I heard some sniffling.

"Who's there?" I called, climbing the steps to the Astronomy tower, fully intending to give whoever it was detention and hightail it out of there- the last thing I needed was to sit and hear the woes of an adolescent girl after I'd just finished patrolling the corridors. I climbed the last stair. But it wasn't a heartbroken pubescent girl (there was always a lot of drama during the first few weeks of school when all the boys and girls told their boyfriends or girlfriends about their summer flings).

It was-

* * *

A/N: HAHAHEHEHOHO! A cliffhanger! Hope you liked it. It was hard to write this chapter. I originally had a different plan for it, but it was too much for this chapter so I decided to split them.

A big THANK YOU to choc0 chipz who has been reviewing! Readers, use that as an example to REVIEW! Sorry,I'm very happy to have finally finished this chapter. Enjoy!

W-W-A-J-A-L


	5. You've Got a Friend

Disclaimer: I'm an American, therefore I am DEFINITELY NOT JKR. Also, I'm not Carole King unless you guys really think I'm that talented. Either way, I'm still not Carole King.

* * *

'The Astronomy Tower'

or

'You've Got a Friend'

I heard some sniffling "Who's there?" I called, climbing the steps to the Astronomy tower, fully intending to give whoever it was detention and hightail it out of there- the last thing I needed was to sit and hear the woes of an adolescent girl after I'd just finished patrolling the corridors. I climbed the last stair. But it wasn't a pubescent girl.

It was Sirius Black. I didn't have time to comprehend the fact that Sirius Black was crying on the top of the astronomy tower at 10 o'clock at night before he noticed me and stood bolt upright.

"What do you want, Evans?" He snapped.

"I'm on head duty" I answered.

"Well, go on, give me detention, that's what you wanted to do, right?" he crossly wiped his nose.

"What's wrong, Black?"

"As if you care" He snorted derisively. I sighed and took a seat next to him.

"Talk" we sat in silence for a while. I glanced at Sirius out of the corner of my eye every once and a while. I was just about to give up and leave when his voice split the silence.

"My brother is a Death Eater" he held up a letter I hadn't noticed before. I opened my mouth to speak, but he continued. "Perfect Regulus. Model child. Slytherin, a respectable Black, one who was worthy of the name, Voldemort sympathizer. On the other hand, me. Gryffindor, troublemaker, Voldemort hater. Regulus was always preferred. While I was punished for my beliefs, he was rewarded for being a respectable, dark, pureblood maniac. When I got sorted into Gryffindor, my family was furious. They threatened to disown me. When Regulus came to Hogwarts, he was a Slytherin. He hung around budding Death Eaters like Mulciber, Avery, Snape- don't try and deny it, Snivellus is planning on being a Death Eater" he said. He must have noticed the slight change in the emotions on my face, but ignored it. "Today, I got a letter from my mum. I don't know why she even sent it, considering I was finally disowned last year. Probably wanted me to change my ways or some other bulllshit. That's it." He finished rather lamely.

"I'm sorry" I said, at a loss for words. Black snorted again.

"That's all you can say? I'm sorry?"

"Well sorry that I don't know what to say!"

"You would if you ever had a problem in your perfect life!" he yelled back.

"Oh, you don't think have problems, then, hm? No, I'm not shunned in the magical world for having muggle parents, no, I'm not shunned at home by my sister who's supposed to love me, but actually is scared and jealous of me and therefore hates me, no my best friend didn't' become a Death Eater. I have no problems what so ever!" I blew up sarcastically, turning to leave.

"Evans" Black's voice came softly from behind me.

"What" I snapped, tears pricking my eyes.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Bravo, now you know how I feel, bully for you."

"No really. You're not wanted in either of your worlds and your sister hates you. I'm sorry."

"Thanks a lot" I said sarcastically. I turned and sat next to Sirius again. "We aren't too different then."

"What's your sister like?" Sirius asked.

"I guess you could call her the opposite of your brother" I smiled wryly. Black didn't smile.

"It's horrible. Your sister should be there for you, not scared of you."

"What about your family?"

"Psh" Black scoffed. "I've got the Potters and Moony and Peter, I don't need them. They won't change." I sighed, not really knowing what to say. We sat there in companionable silence for a long time, staring at the stars and moon.

Eventually I stood up, dragging Sirius back to the common room. I sat down and pulled out a deck of Exploding Snap cards. As I dealt, Sirius grinned.

"I'll be back in a sec" he dashed up the boy's staircase, reappearing with a box. He sat down across from. "Chocolate frog?" he asked. I felt a smile spread across my face.

"Why not?" he tossed one to me and grabbed his cards. We played for a while, then suddenly, the cards exploded in Sirius's face, singeing off his eyebrows. I stifled a giggle. He glared at me and pointed at the cards.

"Bad cards. Sit." I cracked up. I must have been overtired, but he said it with such a straight face that I couldn't help it. Then my cards exploded also, burning the tips of my hair. Now Sirius was the one laughing. I faux smiled and grabbed the cards, tossing them at him. They fluttered down around him, exploding and engulfing him in smoke He shrieked and scrambled out of the way.

"Hey! That's dangerous!"

"You'll survive." I laughed.

"Let's play chess instead. NO one can beat me. I'm even better than James."

"You're on." And so thus began the chess tournament. We played and played, capturing pieces and laughing.

"I have to say, Evans" Sirius said. "You're pretty darn good, but I'm going to win." I snorted.

"Puh-lease." Then, Sirius made a move, cornering my king.

"HA! Take that, Evans. I win! Hehe!" he giggled. I frowned.

"Did you just giggle?"

"No! I'm Sirius Black, I don't giggle"

"Except for the fact that you just did."

"I did NOT giggle"

"I'm gonna _cream_ you at monopoly"

"Wuzzat?"

"Muggle game I'm VERY good at, mind you"

"Fine, but we're playing chess now" we started another game. After a little bit of time and a lot more chocolate, we heard footsteps and glanced up as James Potter came stumbling down the steps in his rumpled pajamas.

"Hey Prongs, I'm winning against Lily!" Sirius said excitedly.

"Great" James mumbled sleepily. "You guys really should go to bed, we have class tomorrow."

"Urgh, why?" I whined. "We were having so much fuuunnn." I rolled onto my back and stretched. James sat down between us.

"Finish your game" He said. We continued playing, until James slumped forward onto the board and ruined the pieces.

"Hey!" Sirius cried. "What was that for?" he smacked James on the back of the head.

"OW!" James yelped, sitting straight up.

"You ruined our game" I pointed at the board.

"Sorry" he mumbled sheepishly. I laughed and pulled out the cards.

"At least you saved me from certain failure."

"Ha! So, you admit it" Sirius said.

"I never said that. Now let's play." I dealt out the cards and the boys took them. And we sat there, playing and laughing and eating until 5 am because why would you sleep when you are having fun with your sleepy, happy, boys?

* * *

A/N: I hope you guys like this chapter. I wrote a long time ago. Its really short, but originally this one and the last one were supposed to be one chapter but I decided to write a cliffhanger. Also, if you guys have any ideas for pranks, tell me in a review! I'm horrible at coming up with pranks and they're the Marauders! They need pranks! Anyway, enjoy and R. E. V. I. E. W. (BTW, that's an acronym for review). Thanks choc0 chipz for reviewing every chapter!

W-W-A-J-A-L


	6. America

A/N: Okay, really weird title, and the song isn't super relevant, but oh well :)

Disclaimer: I'm American so I couldn't be JKR and I'm definitely not Simon or Garfunkel.

'Expecto Bromance!'

or

'America'

(James' PoV)

I stretched, and yawned. I'd been obsessing about _the night._ My friends said I was crazy. What can I say? Lily is the most perfect person to ever walk this earth. She's smart and cute and gorgeous and strong and witty and a _mean_ spell-caster (not to mention she's got strong enough lungs to yell at three different people in a row; Sirius, Snape, and I). That's why after _the night,_ the night when she and Sirius became better friends (despite what she may have you think, Pads and she were civil before then and even made each other laugh sometimes, much to the jealousy of me) and I found them battling over chess at 2 am, I was shocked when she told me to sit down and play with them. She didn't yell at me once. And that is exactly why I was obsessing over _the night._

What good nature would possess a usually very angry when in my presence redhead to suddenly be civil? And for the past fortnight, she had been much nicer to me (though that may have been influenced by the fact that I was no longer hexing random people and was no longer asking her out). Speaking of the not asking her out part, I have decided to take Remus's advice and quit the dating pressure. I also kinda started to realize towards the end of sixth year that it might get slightly annoying to be the butt of many jokes and to constantly asked out. I now understand where I went wrong, but that doesn't stop my heart from hurting. Sirius says I'm being dramatic and Pete, bless his heart, is not very romantically adept. Only Remus seems to be very understanding, though I suspect that he thinks I'm crazy, too. Scratch that, I _know_ that's what he thinks. Either way, none of them have ever experienced unrequited love. When I put it that way, it sounds like some sort of Shakespearean shit. Yes, I do know who Shakespeare is. And I'm well read in wizard literature (and some muggle). It's the effect of being from a prestigious pure-blood family. Ask Sirius, he could tell you about the boring lectures about respectable pure-blood behavior he's had to deal with. It wasn't as bad for me because my parents love me, but it's still trying sometimes.

"What's up, Prongs?" a familiar voice said. But there was something wrong with it. It had a strange accent.

"Pads? What's wrong with your voice?" I asked, sitting up from where I had been laying on the bed. Sirius flopped in my desk chair. Did I mention that I have my own room as Head Boy? No? Well, I do. At first, I couldn't sleep because I'm so used to hearing Sirius's thunderous snoring and Pete's wheezy little breaths. Yes, I have lain awake many nights with my mind full of Voldemort and Lily and my dad, who's an Auror. He constantly must go on raids and I get worried that he'll go off and I'll never see him again. That's my biggest fear. I have a hard time admitting my fears to anyone except Sirius. I can talk to Remus and Pete, but not on quite the 'We've-been-best-friends-since-we-were-nine-and-you-have-caught-me-in-the-most-embarrassing-compromising-situations-possible-and-I-can-and-have-told-you-LITERALLY EVERYTHING' way.

"My voice? I'm walking in an American's shoes now. No more Britain for me except for the fact that I live here but that can't be fixed" Sirius jolted me out of my thoughts.

"Why?" I asked. Sirius sighed and put his face in his hands.

"I need change. After everything that's happened with my- with Regulus, I can't stand anything that I might share with him. Honestly, I even thought about locking my wand away, but I'd rather be able to fight against him and his precious Death Eaters."

I stared at him in shock. Then I stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him up and into a hug. I could feel him shaking, knowing that he was angry and sad, but didn't let him know that I knew. If you did that, Sirius would just shut down. I also knew that he'd been a little better after his midnight chat with Lily on the Astronomy tower, but was by no means healed. It was impossible for one as damaged as Sirius to heal that quickly. I wasn't sure if he would ever heal, but he could find stars in the dark. After all, he was one. He tended to use humor to hide the pain. It was a good way to hide it, I'd even been fooled before. The entire school was misled daily by the careless, handsome façade of Sirius Black. He only allowed his closest friends to see past that, and I was one of the three he trusted.

"Well, do what you need to do, but it'll be rather interesting to have an exchange student speaking American."

"It's the same language" Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah, but there's a weird accent and different sayings, like 'y'all'. What the hell does 'y'all' mean? You all? That's not a valid contraction. Not that I really care, but oh well" I said. Sirius punched me. Yeah, that moment of deep reflection and sentimentality was over and Padfoot was back.

"Race you to the kitchens?"

"You're on" I took off down the stairs, Sirius thundering after me. We ran through the common room, only stopping to divulge our destination in Remus's ear when he yelled after us wondering at our hurry. The Fat Lady screeched after us in indignation. We turned a corner and ran smack dab into Lily Evans.

"Hi Red" Sirius said, tipping an imaginary hat at Lily. She scowled. Her eyes were a little red. I wondered why.

"Don't call me that. What's the hurry?"

"Kitchens" I answered, leaning against the wall. She smiled.

"Room for another?" She asked. I gaped at her. Was Lily Evans asking if she could eat maybe illegal food with us? Apparently yes.

"Sure" Sirius supplied, since I was doing a fantastic imitation of a fish.

"Why are you talking funny?" Lily inquired as we walked. Sirius looked up surprised.

"What?"

"There! Now you're back to normal, but you were talking funny for a while. You had an American accent. I should know, I watch M*A*S*H"

"What's that?" I asked. Why would she be watching the potatoes?

"It's an American muggle TV show. It's about a M*A*S*H unit in the Korean war. You'd like it- it's hilarious, but it's got a good grasp of humanity. It's not just war and humor" she explained.

"What's a M*A*S*H unit?" Sirius asked before I could.

"Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. It's about these surgeons trying to deal with the war without going insane"

"Sounds happy" Sirius snorted. Lily rolled her eyes. I stepped forward and tickled the pear- we'd arrived at the kitchens.

We entered the kitchens and were immediately ambushed by two house elves, squeaking for what we wanted. Lily flopped on the bench and rested her head on the table in what looked like an uncomfortable position. Sirius draped himself next to her, leaving me to settle in next to him. The house elves brought us hot chocolates and we sipped them in silence. I stole glances at Lily, watching as her green eyes stared into her cup, a tendril of her auburn hair falling in front of her freckled face. I resisted the urge to reach over and tuck it behind her ear. Stop it, I told myself. She's never going to like you, so you need to get over her.

"Patrols?" I asked, running a hand through my hair. Then I mentally face-palmed. Why did I do that?! I've been trying to stop that, because of the amount of times Lily has yelled at me about it. Sometimes I think I'm her verbal punching bag for when she's angry, but I don't discourage her. Honestly, her speaking to me at all is a miracle. That's why I still don't understand why she's been so nice this year. I mean, sure, I saved her from the torturing Slythergits, but-

"Patrols?" Lily asked, confused. "Oh! Yeah, I was on patrols with Benjy Fenwick, that sixth year Ravenclaw prefect. He's nice."

"Any… romance?" Sirius said in an even weirder accent than the current American one. Lily grinned.

"No, though he is really interesting I don't like him in that way. I've known him since I caught him in the library after hours in fourth year. We both were trying to do late night studying and got to talking. We don't see each other too much, though"

"Again, with the studying" Sirius teased. I grinned.

"She's Lily Evans! She studies! It's her thing" Lily took a sip of her creamy drink. I pushed my glasses up my nose. Lily burst out laughing, spewing her cocoa everywhere. Sirius shrieked and scrambled away, pulling me with him. I tumbled off the bench, which was messy because I had been holding my mug of cocoa, so it dumped all over me and the floor. Lily was still wiping her eyes, laughing abnormally hard, and I could see tears glistening at the edge of her eyes. Sirius looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" I asked Lily. Her laughing sounded a little weird, but she pointed her wand at the spilled cocoa and gasped "Scourgify" everything instantly cleaned and she got up, calming a little, but still wiping her eyes.

"I gotta go- homework" her voice sounded strange and she turned and ran off.

"Wait!" Sirius called. He turned to me. "What was that all about?" I shrugged.

"No idea. I hope she's okay. She sounded… weird" We stood up and set our now empty mugs on the table. An elf whisked them away before we could even step away from the table.

We left and climbed up to the common room. We gave the fat Lady the password 'drinking glass'. Seriously, who makes the password 'drinking glass', then walked over to the sofa, where Remus was helping Peter with his potions homework. He looked up.

"Hey. How were the kitchens?"

"Good" Sirius answered.

"We ran into- "

"Lily just- "

"Lily and she- "

"ran through here and up to her dorm, crying" Remus finished.

"had cocoa with us, then left in a hurry, laughing like a mental person" I said, then frowned. "She was crying?"

"Yeah, you said she was with you?" Peter asked.

"She ran off after laughing hysterically" Sirius said.

"I hope she's okay" Moony worried.

"Let's tell one of her friends to check up on her" I suggested. I strode over to Emmeline. "Hey, Emme?"

"Yeah?"

"Go up and check on Lily, please. She just ran through here crying" Emmeline shot up.

"Did you say anything to her?" she exclaimed.

"I swear I did nothing!"

"You had better not have!" Emme turned and ran up the stairs. I went back to my friends and sat down. As I stared into the fire, my mind wandered (as usual). Why was lily crying? But then why was she laughing? Maybe she had been laughing so hard she was crying? Or maybe she was trying to cover up the crying with laughing? Ah! I'm going to bed. I said as much to my friends, and headed up for an early turn in. Of course, my mind didn't stop spinning until midnight, when I finally fell asleep.

* * *

When I woke the next morning, it was because Sirius was sitting on my bed, eating a muffin and dropping crumbs all over my face. I suspected it was on purpose.

"Ughhhh" I groaned, flipping onto my stomach and punching in the direction of the crumbs. I must have hit him, because Sirius grunted and there was a loud THUMP indicating that he'd hit the floor.

"Bloody- what was that for?!"

"You were using my face as a plate!" I said indignantly,

"Get up" Sirius waved me off. I rolled my eyes and cuddled further into my bed, closing my eyes. What seemed like two seconds later, I was being bashed over the head with a pillow.

"Stop it Sirius!" I sent my fist flying and it connected.

"OOF!" someone said, I twisted around and blinked sleep out of my eyes.

"EvaNs" I screeched, yanking my sheet up to cover my bare chest. "What the bloody hell are you doing up here?"

"We have class and your mates were not doing anything about you" she coughed. "I had no clue you'd be naked." I glared at her.

"I'm not naked. Besides, you shouldn't be coming uninvited into people's rooms when their sleeping." Lily crossly rolled her eyes and stomped out of the room. I grumbled as I got out of bed. Bloody Evans and her bloody classes.

I got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall where my wonderful mates were eating waffles and laughing with Mary and Marlene. I groaned and face-palmed. Seeing Marlene reminded me. I had to hold Quidditch tryouts. With all the Head Boy drama, I'd nearly forgotten about them.

"What's wrong?" Mary asked.

"Where's Lily" I countered. She rolled her eyes.

"She'll be down in a minute, stalker"

"I'm not a stalker!"

"Your kind of are mate" Remus said. I grabbed his plate and dumped it over his head.

"PRONGS!" he screeched. "I'm gonna kill you!" He launched himself at me, in all his sticky syrup glory. I grabbed a handful of sausage for the road and took off to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

I skidded to a halt outside the door and composed myself, before placing my hand on the door. Unbeknownst to me, a syrupy being tackled me from behind, pushing us both through the door and onto the floor. Moony and I wrestled on the floor until he managed to start tickling me. I squealed in a very unmanly manner and my new strength from being tickled allowed me to shoot out of his grasp and swipe the syrup out of my eyes. I heard a snort and turned to see a disapproving Lily Evans.

"How did that happen?" she asked. Remus glared.

"He dumped my waffles on me"

"Immature" I heard Lily mutter.

"Hey, at least I'm sweet as sugar now" I pointed out. It was the first romantically undertoned comment I'd made. She ignored me. I waved my wand.

"Scourgify"

"It works better if you use the proper wand movement" Lily criticized.

"WeLl eVeRyonE can'T BE PerFeCT" I said in response. She ignored me. Moony and I chose our seats (conveniently located behind her) and waited for the rest of class. I pulled my sausages out of my pocket.

"How did you keep those things while you were running?" Remus asked in amazement.

"Food management. The sausages are precious" I tapped Red on the shoulder with a sausage. "Want one?" I asked sweetly.

"No" She scowled.

"Did you eat breakfast?" Remus asked.

"No" shortly.

"Come on, I promise they aren't poisoned"

"Knowing that pocket of yours, it might as well be" she muttered, but accepted the sausage.

The rest of the class filed in and took their seats, Padfoot and Wormtail sitting next to us. Professor Itzel Goodwin (our new Defense teacher) entered the room.

"Good morning class!" she said. "Today we will be working on the Patronus charm" Moony Wormtail, Padfoot and I shared smirks. We could easily do this. "the Patronus charm is used to defend against the Dementor, and is the only know method of repelling a Lethifold. Luckily, Lethifolds are native to the Sahara, and therefore is not a concern unless you plan to visit the desert. The third and most useful aspect of a Patronus is that it can be used to send vocal messages quickly, rather like a one-sided Muggle telephone. To cast a Patronus, concentrate on your happiest or strongest memory and speak the incantation 'Expecto Patronum'. This is a very difficult spell, so I don't expect you to be able to cast a corporeal Patronus by the end of this lesson. Now practice, it's the only way to learn. Just please don't blow anything up." She smiled and sat down at her desk. Professor Goodwin was a good teacher. She explained thoroughly and understandably, but she gave WAY too much homework.

I leaned back in my seat and grabbed my wand. There were shouts and mumbles of 'Expecto Patronum!' and lots of wand waving. The room was hazy with silvery smoke. Ahead of me, Lily had her eyes shut tight in concentration, but had not picked up her wand. I frowned. That was weird. Usually she was the first to cast a charm, the first to pick up her wand and give it a go. Next her, Marlene was alternating between glancing at lily and concentrating on her spell. There were several constipated looking students in the room. Sirius twitched his wand and muttered the spell. A fully formed silvery white, shaggy dog bounded out of the tip of his wand. It ran around the room on the silver clouds of mist the other students were producing.

"Very good, Mr. Black!" Goodwin clapped. "Look, class. He's done it!" She looked very excited.

"Expecto Patronum!" Peter cried, sweating with concentration. The spell was always harder for him, but he could do it. A rat tumbled out of the end of his wand, and sniffed around on the desk. He laughed. "I did it on the first try, Prongs!" I gave him a thumbs up.

"Good one, Wormy"

"Prongs" I turned to Remus, who was looking a bit pale.

"What- are you okay?" I asked, alarmed.

"I'm fine, but my Patronus is a" he whispered the next part. "A wolf" I understood. Moony was worried that others would realize his secret.

"I think it'll be fine, but if you don't want to do it now, you can ask Goodwin if you can do it later in private." I suggested sympathetically. He nodded, and closed his eyes. Then he opened them.

"I'll try" he said. "Expecto Patronum!" A wolf exploded out of the end of his wand, pouncing on Peter's rat, which ran squeaking away, then exploded into mist.

"You dissolved it!" Peter exclaimed, annoyed.

"Sorry" Remus snorted, hiding a smirk.

"You don't mean that"

"Yup, I don't" he replied. Wormtail rolled his eyes and turned back o his desk.

"I almost got something!" I heard Marlene shriek. Lily turned to her.

"What were you thinking of?" Marlene blushed and whispered something in her ear. They both started cracking up. I waved my wand carelessly and the customary stag strutted out of the tip, prancing around the room on silver mist clouds. Lily looked to Sirius.

"How are you guys doing that?" she demanded.

"What? Looking awesome?" Sirius quipped. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Forget it" she turned back and closed her eyes, resting her head in her hands.

"You might want to pick up your wand" Peter suggested unhelpfully. Lily sent him a death glare, which was weird because usually she was really kind to him. He put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay! Don't pick your wand up then."

"Try thinking of your strongest memory" I suggested. Lily ignored me, choosing instead to stared straight ahead.

"What's wrong, Evans?" I heard Sirus whisper. Lily turned her head. I could see tear tracks on her face. Evans NEVER cried. What was wrong?

* * *

A/N: I like parts of this chapter and don't like others. It was really fun to write from Jame's PoV, so you guys are gonna be reading more of that, but next chapter is going to be the full moon! Animagi! Yay! Enjoy this chapter for now though. And please review! If you are reading this, take the two seconds to write a review, please!

W-W-A-J-A-L


	7. Brain Damage

Disclaimer: I'm not JKR, nor am I Pink Floyd, therefore I don't own the song or the lyrics in my A/N at the bottom. I don't own the quote in the chapter, or the quote in my A/N either. It belongs to whatever dude from the 70's got asked questions by Pink Floyd.

* * *

'Werewolf McWerewolf'

or

'Brain Damage'

'No one's PoV'

"I'm going to the Hospital wing now" Remus said, climbing off his bed and glancing at his friends.

"See you tonight, Werewolf McWerewolf" Sirius said carelessly. Remus raised an eyebrow.

"What did you just call me?" Sirius smirked.

"Nothing" the sandy haired boy rolled his eyes and exited the room.

Now, sitting on the dusty floor of the Shrieking Shack, Remus smiled thinking of this memory. He loved his friends, and always worried about his friends when they came to visit him as animals when he was in his wolfish state. They always insisted he was worrying too much, but Remus couldn't help it. Suddenly, he felt a horrible, clenching pain all throughout his body, and knew it had started.

* * *

Lily sighed and swung her cloak over her shoulders, opened the great front doors and stepped out into the moonlit September night. She carefully crept down to the lake and sat with her back against a tree. She knew that right now, Remus John Lupin, one of her best friends, was currently locked in the Shrieking Shack, tearing at his own skin. Rummaging around in her pocket, she pulled out a crumpled piece of stationary, and smoothed it out. She sat there, reading it over and over by the moonlight as a tear slid slowly down her cheek. In the distance, she heard a howl and wondered if it was Remus. She out her head in her arms and lay there on the dewy grass.

She heard a loud rustle, and a muffled yell and sat bolt upright as she saw a brief ripple in the clear night and heard a soft muttering sound over the rustles of the dry leaves on the ground. She grabbed her wand and stood up, ready to bolt to the castle.

* * *

James peered around the corner.

"Filch is on the second floor" Wormtail whispered. James glanced down at the map in his hands, then crept forward down the corridor, followed by Sirius and Peter. They were heading down to the Shrieking Shack. Tonight, was the full moon and they were going down to repeat the same process that they'd done since the very end of fourth year. They were going to take their animal forms and play with Moony so that he didn't hurt himself when he was in a wolfish state of mind. The Marauders did this every month when the full moon rose. It was a feat keeping it hidden from Dumbledore, but they managed it.

When they reached the doors to the grounds, they slipped out and pulled the invisibility cloak over them.

"You stepped on my foot!" Sirius whisper-yelled.

"Sorry" Peter muttered. James elbowed Sirius and slipped out from under the cloak, transforming into a stag and reveling in his heightened senses. Peter shrunk down to a rat and pulled the invisibility cloak off, stuffing it in his pocket. James glanced over at Sirius and saw a shaggy black dog. The Willow stilled and Padfoot loped forward. James cantered after him, and slipped under the roots, into the familiar tunnel to the Shrieking Shack.

Wormtail skittered around their feet, squeaking. Eventually, they reached the trapdoor to the Shack and James nudged it open with his antlers. A growl echoed from the shack and the Marauders emerged to meet the fully-grown werewolf pawing at the broken furniture. Padfoot leaped forward and Moony and he began to wrestle. Prongs clopped over to the door and opened it, looking back to see Sirius and Peter leading Moony towards him. They leaped out into the beautiful, moonlit night and played, running and wrestling. Moony was harder to handle tonight than usual, but they managed him until Moony went rogue after a bat and they couldn't get him back in line.

His wolf instincts came back to him as the animagi tried to wrestle him back to the docile creature he was under their influence. He growled at Pads and swiped as Sirius tried to push him back towards the Shack. James came up behind him and tried to push him from behind. He rounded on the stag and swiped viciously. James stumbled backwards, his leg twisting unnaturally. He yelped. Peter ran squeaking over to Prongs and nudged him with his little body. James stumbled back into a standing position as Sirius and Moony fought, yelps and growls colliding as they inched back to the Shack. James ran full force at them and knocked Moony towards the shack a few meters. Padfoot threw himself at Moony and Moony swiped with his claws, slicing Sirius, who whined loudly and stumbled back towards the door. Moony leaped after him, and Sirius, who was a few feet away, was caught under Moony as he sank his teeth into Pads side. Sirius howled and went limp. James threw himself at the door, closing it as Peter dashed through it. He ran in circles distracting Moony while James nudged Padfoot quickly over to the trapdoor. Wormtail ran squeaking towards them as his two friends turned back to human, James grabbing Sirius's limp body and tumbling through the darkness. He leaped into the hole, changing mid leap into a human and pulling the door shut just as Moony crashed into it. They ran, James ignoring the pain in his throbbing ankle as he carried Sirius's unconscious form. He heard Peter scamper past in rat form, and burst through the hole entrance as the branches stilled. James slumped on the grass next to Padfoot's limp, bleeding body.

"Bloody hell!" Peter said. "He was worse than he ever has been." He set to work on stopping the bleeding, but Sirius's face had gone ashen gray.

"We need to get him to the castle." James said urgently, stumbling to his feet. They dragged Sirius's arms over their shoulders and Peter swung the cloak over them. As they slowly walked up to the castle, stumbling slightly due to James's twisted ankle, James glanced around. "Shit" he cursed quietly. Lily Evans was hurrying up to the castle, wand out. She whipped around and her eyes crinkled in confusion and she took a step forward. James sidestepped, and Peter followed him, but before they could go very far, Sirius's dragging feet caught the edge of cloak and yanked it off. They stood there like deer in the headlights (quite literally) as Lily, who seemed about ready to ignore whatever had caught her attention, screamed, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

"What the sodding mother of Merlin?" She walked over to us and yanked the cloak off us. She noticed Sirius's wound and swallowed hard. "What the...? Locomotor mortis" she muttered. Sirius became stiff and floated into o the air.

"What are you doing?" James hissed.

"Keeping your mate from dying" she said. "Taking him to the hospital wing."

"You can't do that. We've got it under control" Peter insisted. Lily snorted and began walking.

"By the looks of it, you don't. What the hell were you doing?" James leaped in front of her.

"You absolutely CANNOT take him to the hospital wing" he yanked her wand away.

"Hey! Give me back my wand!"

"No"

"Yes"

"No" she launched herself at him and tried to yank it away. Unfortunately for her, he was very tall and simply held it out of her reach.

"Shut up guys" Peter ordered. "We need to get Sirius up to the tower." James directed Lily's wand at Sirius and started walking. Peter picked up the Invisibility Cloak and draped it over Sirius, then turned into a rat.

"What the-"

"Shut up" Lily crossed her arms angrily. They slipped through the front doors and climbed flight after flight of stairs, before arriving at the Fat Lady.

"Warthog" Lily said under her breath.

"Nice to see you too" the Fat Lady crabbed but swung open. They climbed through the hole and Lily immediately yanked the cloak off Sirius as Peter stretched up into a human again.

"You three prats owe me an explanation" she grumbled as she helped James lay Sirius down on the ground. "How?" her fingers nimbly unbuttoned his shirt and she pushed it aside, looking at the bite. Her fingers came away red. She turned away for a moment, looking sick.

"Are you okay? We've got it under control" James said.

"No, you bloody well haven't! What the HELL were you prats doing?" she demanded as she reached over and grabbed her wand from James. Peter and he exchanged a glance. She looked between them.

"No." she gasped. "Did Remus do this?"

"You know?" Peter said.

"Yeah. I figured it out last year and asked him about it. It was rather obvious" she paused for a moment. "That still doesn't explain what he did!"

"Okay. SWEAR that you won't tell anyone what I'm going to tell you." James said seriously.

"What? NO! Not if it's putting you in danger!"

"You will damn well swear if you want to know" he insisted, glaring at her. She sighed.

"FINE. I swear that I won't tell ANY- bloody- one what you're about to say"

"We're animagi"

"WHAT"

"We're animagi. We were trying to find a way to help Remus. Werewolves are only a danger to humans, so in animal form, we're safe. We couldn't just leave him there to tear at himself"

"That is incredibly- do you have any idea how dangerous that is?" She whisper-screeched.

"Yes, we know!"

"You- you utter bastards!" James snapped.

"YES, WE BLOODY WELL KNOW BUT WE COULDN'T JUST LEAVE REMUS THERE TO HURT HIMSELF, SO NEXT TIME YOU DECIDE TO SCOLD US ABOUT BEING LAZY PRATS WHO CARE ABOUT ONLY THEMSELVES- except you, Remus. You're nice. I'M FED UP WITH YOUTHINKING OUR LIVES ARE PERFECT. STOP FOR A MINUTE AND THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE'VE ALL GOT SHIT TO DEAL WITH!" he exploded. Peter stared at him. Lily looked furious, then her expression changed to uncharacteristically cowed. She bowed her head.

"I'm sorry" She murmured in a choked voice. She began to say complicated spells to stem Sirius's bleeding and start healing the bites. James breathed heavily and drew his wand, reaching over to Peter and muttering 'Episkey' for his scrapes, before healing his own leg. They heard a choking sound and turned to see Padfoot sit bolt upright. Evans put her arm around his shoulders. Tears were glittering on her cheeks as she comforted him.

"Wha- what happened?" He asked, then his face turned a little greenish gray. He retched and Lily brushed his forehead which was sweating.

"You got bit by Remus"

"Wait, you know?" he asked, frantically.

"Yes, I know. Calm down." Sirius tried to stand, but Lily held him down, a fierce look in her eyes. "You're going to hurt yourself worse. You lost a lot of blood." He glanced at her face.

"Shit Evans. Are you crying?" Lily ducked her head and swiped at her eyes. She was crying. Why was she crying so much lately? She'd seemed rather depressed, subdued, sad, lately.

"No"

"Yes, you are"

"No, I'm not. Now. Are you dizzy?"

"Why are you crying?" Sirius demanded.

"I'll tell you later" she grumbled. Oh, of course she'll tell _him,_ James thought.

"How are you feeling, Pads?" James asked. Sirius looked around and spotted his two worried friends.

"Okay, Prongs. How are you?"

"Fine, twisted ankle, nothing more" he nodded.

"You three should go to bed" Lily said, ignoring James's injury.

"Yeah, you need to rest, Pads."

"I'm not going to bed until Red tells me what's up with her" Sirius insisted. Lily threw up her hands.

"Why are you so obsessed!?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I care about you? When my Lilybug gets depressed, I worry." Oooh. Bad move there Pads. Lily hates nicknames like that.

"Don't call me that, Mr. Uncharacteristically Nice. Now go to bed" She stood up and offered Sirius a hand. She hoisted him up and he leaned heavily on her.

"Don't drop him" She ordered as she helped him latch his arms around Peter and James's necks. Peter rolled his eyes.

"Obviously" Peter said.

"Why are you so heavy?" James groaned. Sirius smirked.

"Sorry Prongsie" they carefully climbed the stairs, Lily and the Common Room disappearing as they heaved Sirius up the stairs. They dropped him on his bed once they reached the dormitory and he rolled over, groaning.

"Careful with that bandage" James warned as he yanked his dirty shirt off and tossed it on the floor. Peter and he flopped on their beds and within minutes, were out cold.

"I will be" Sirius sighed, turning and closing his eyes to shut out the moon that created such torture for their friend. "I will be."

* * *

' _The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb'_

Lily rubbed her eyes and pulled her blanket tighter around her. She was sitting on the sofa in the common room, two nights after the full moon incident. Remus was back in commission, though he was paler than usual and Lily was worried about him. That, on top of her Head Girl duties and schoolwork was making her rather sleep deprived. But that was nothing. No, the real reason she was losing sleep, the reason the she hadn't been eating much, the reason she'd been distant, and the reason she was crying at random times was far worse. Her-

"Hi Red" she glanced up from where she'd been staring at the dying coals. It was Sirius Black. Lily shot up.

"Sirius! Sit down! You need to be careful. Your bite's still healing" Sirius groaned.

"I know, it twinges like the demons of the past whenever I move"

"Ah, I empathize"

"Have you ever been bitten by a werewolf?" Sirius challenged.

"No, but I've gotten a period, so, basically the same thing"

"Ah, the 'woman thing'" Sirius teased, a sparkle in his silver-grey eyes. Lily nudged him.

"Oh, shut up" but she smiled.

"SOOO, what's been bothering you?" Sirius regretted asking the question immediately though, because the almost happy expression on Lily's face was suddenly replaced by a frown. Her emerald eyes looked like shattered glass. Sirius had a feeling that something really bad had happened. "Lily, what happened?" She turned to him. Sirius saw tears in her eyes. She'd been crying so much lately. Her lip quivered.

"Promise not to tell anyone"

"Okay"

"I mean it. NO. ONE. Not Remus, or Peter. DEFINITELY not Potter."

"Okay" Lily glared at him. Sirius threw his hands up, then winced.

"I swear, I won't tell a soul!" Lily seemed satisfied.

"My" she took a deep breath. "My parents are- "She seemed to choke on the last word. "dead." Sirius stared at her. Then he scooted forward and tentatively put his arms around her. Lily collapsed into his warm embrace and cried. She cried harder than she let herself cry any other time in the past two weeks, even when around her friends. For some reason, she felt safe around Sirius. He understood her problems with her sister like no one else could and they trusted each other, despite some history of loathing, though not to the extent of Lily's hate for his best mate. He was like a brother to Lily, she a sister to him.

"How" Sirius asked softly, after a few minutes.

"They were killed in a car crash. But what's worse, the Department of Magical Events and Catastrophes found a trace of magic on the brakes. They think the brakes were tampered with by V-Voldemort."

"I'm so sorry" Sirius said, even though he knew that would never be sufficient. Lily simply burrowed into his arms further. "What does your sister say?"

"She says that it's my fault for being a witch" Lily said, her voice hard.

"The bitch" Sirius said calmly. Lily poked him in the ribs, and wiped away a tear.

"Though she said that she was going to honor Mum's wish that we make peace so I'm a bridesmaid in her wedding next spring. She said that she doesn't want to be associated with a freak, though, so I should keep my abnormality hidden."

"What's up?" came a familiar voice. Lily turned to see Remus sitting gingerly on the other side of her. She wiped hastily at her eyes.

"Erm, just talking" she said. Remus raised an eyebrow. He really was too observant for his own good.

"You seem rather… upset" he said. Lily took in his appearance. He had his usual sandy brown hair and warm amber eyes, but he was paler and thinner than usual. Lily sighed and buried her face in her hands. She supposed she should tell him.

"My parents… were killed… in a car crash" She choked out. "but you have to promise not to tell anyone." Remus looked at her in horror.

"Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry. Do you need to talk to anyone?" Lily smiled around her tears a little and snuggled into her friend's sides.

"It's okay" she whispered. "I'll manage. I just need someone to know. My friends don't really understand. I feel like you guys know what I'm talking about more." Remus still looked at her worriedly, but he put his arm around her. And as Lily sat there, sandwiched between her two best guy-friends, she knew she'd eventually be fine if since she knew that she had friends who were more family to her than Petunia ever had been.

* * *

A/N: OKAY! I was so excited when I realized that 'Brain Damage' would be the perfect song for this chapter because it's dealing with the werewolf thing and the song just describes Remus's affliction PERFECTLY. Also, I figured I'd kept you guys about the Lily thing for long enough. The reason she and Sirius are so close is because I love the Sirius/Lily friendship, although there will be more Lily/James ness in the next chapter. And hopefully a little Quidditch. And Head meetings.

 _Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs_

That could be referring to before Remus was bit.

And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too  
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

And the last lyric could be referring to when Remus is human. When the moon is dark, he is safe, but when the moon is light, he is the wolf

 _The lunatic is in my head  
The lunatic is in my head_

The lunatic is the wolf in Remus

 _You lock the door  
And throw away the key_

The door is the world, the world is trying to keep Remus contained and away from them because they're scared of him

 _There's someone in my head but it's not me._

The wolf in Remus is not him

 _I'll see you on the dark side of the moon_

Again, when Remus is sane

'There is no dark side of the moon, really, matter of fact it's all dark' Merlin, I love that quote :)

Anyway, that's my insight. Hope enjoy the chapter, thanks to those who review! *looks at choc0 chipz* I love you for reviewing!

R&RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. It keeps me writing!

W-W-A-J-A-L


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